The match will in all likelihood determine the winner of Group 2 and the likely venue for India’s semi-final.
The WACA was the traditional venue for many decades, but now the newly built concrete jungle called Optus Stadium hosts the international games.
Although it looks like any other modern cricket stadium lacking the old world charm of WACA, what is similar to both grounds is the spicy nature of its track and the good bounce offered which could make life difficult for hitters.
In this context, Rabada and Nortje, two of the world’s most formidable speed dealers, should ask tough questions of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.
While Rabada will bowl fill and sew and swing the bowl at 145 clicks, expect Nortje to mix it up with back length or hard lengths at 150 plus speed.
Both Rohit and Virat are fabulous horizontal bat players and the Powerplay overs will be about the quality of hand-eye coordination of the best.
The extra pace off the track will give hitters who have a split second less time to react and it will be interesting to see how the Indian hitters approach.
Will they start attacking from the word ‘go’ or as has been a trend in this T20 World Cup play the first 10 overs cautiously and bring the attack back to the opposition on the back-10.
While southpaw Rishabh Pant with his daring kicking game would have been a good foil for Rohit to top the order, it is understood head coach Rahul Dravid at the moment is unwilling to look past a out-of-train Rahul.
The other alternative to include Pant is to drop Dinesh Karthik, whose outfit in both matches was below par.
The Netherlands game is not enough indication to indicate how ready the Indian team is for the Proteas test.
The last series between the two teams was played on low-bounce Indian belts, where hitting across the line and planting your front foot was meat and drink for hitters.
As it concerns South AfricaThe bowling suit of is concerned, it will come as no surprise if they drop left wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi and include an extra seam in Marco Jansen or Lungi Ngidi.
The Indian team have played Shamsi comfortably in the past and two spinners at the Optus might be a luxury unless they are looking to speed up the overstatement.
It’s not advisable to tinker with the winning combination, but with three in-form southpaws in Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller in South Africa’s top six, Axar Patel’s recent clashes are sure to be the focus of discussion. on the team suit. .
Axar’s save rate while playing southpaw in almost 9 runs per over and with Ravichandran Ashwin in the playing XI, it will be cover for Gujarat’s left arm spinner.
Also in this case, Hardik Pandya could play his full quota unless India thinks of playing against Yuzvendra Chahal instead of Axar.
But in this case, they will have to somehow get left-handed pants on the side instead of Rahul.
Also being the only left-handed hitter on the side (apart from Pant) is also an advantage for Axar.
The South African top’s only problem is its skipper Temba Bavumawhose game is not suited to the needs of T20 cricket and seems completely out of place.
However, with two of the most exciting players in Tristan Stubbs and Rossouw, South Africa will have the upper hand in the Indian bowling attack where only Mohammed Shami has the ability to bowl north of 140km/h.
Rossouw will come into the match with the rarest of the few hundred consecutive T20Is (the only other being Frenchman Gustav McKeon) and be the biggest threat to Indian bowlers.
Adelaide will be India’s semi-final destination if they topple South Africa on Sunday and then beat Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the next two matches.
The top of the Group play in Adelaide on November 10.
However, India may end up going to Sydney even after topping Group 2 in case Australia finish second in Group 1 and slip through to the semi-finals. Their fixed semi-final venue is due to pre-tournament arrangement.
TEAMS
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Rilee Rossouw, Tristan Stubbs, Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi
